Islamberg calls for full prosecution of plot suspects

Thursday

The youngest of four suspects accused of planning an attack on a Muslim community is being held on $1 million bail

Leaders of the community of Islamberg spoke to the media Wednesday on the alleged plot to attack the Muslim community near Binghamton.

The Muslims of America called this alleged plot against Holy Islamberg shocking. They referred to it as a “religious-based hate crime” and want to see the suspects prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Greece Police linked four young men from the Rochester area to the case. Police arrested 20-year-old Brian Colaneri of Gates, 18-year-old Andrew Crysel of East Rochester, 19-year-old Vincent Vetromile of Greece, and a 16-year-old Odyssey Academy student and charged each of them with three counts of criminal possession of a weapon and one count of conspiracy.

The three adult suspects were due back in court Feb. 5.

Police say the suspects assembled an arsenal of over 20 firearms and multiple IEDs as part of a preparation for an attack against the Muslim community in Delaware County.

Crysel has since been released from jail on a bond. According to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, he is no longer at the Monroe County Jail. Terms of his release are unknown at this time.

The youngest suspect arrested in connection with the foiled plan is being held on a $1 million bail. The 16-year-old boy was a student at Greece Odyssey. He made comments and showed pictures to fellow classmates of another person he said looked like a "school shooter."

Those students alerted adults who launched an investigation that ultimately led back to the suspect himself.

The 16-year-old is not being identified because of his age but police say they found three improvised explosive devices inside his home along Milford Street in Greece.

Bail for the others was set at $50,000.

Islamberg community leaders blame this alleged plot on misinformation and propaganda that is spread on the internet and social media.

Speakers say Holy Islamberg is a community of mostly women, children and senior citizens. The Muslims of America is headquartered there and the chief executive officer says Islam is a religion of peace.

Hussein Adams, chief executive officer of The Muslims of America, says the neighbors there are no different than Americans everywhere else.

Adams also adds that there is a double standard. If Muslims were accused of a similar crime, he says they would face the most extensive prosecution allowed by law.

"We hold jobs. We are doctors, lawyers, engineers, construction workers. We're normal people in everyday life and this, this is just a tragic event, a tragic event that hurts our hearts, that someone would want to plot to cause harm, yet again, to a peaceful, loving community," said Rashid Clark, mayor of Islamberg.

This group has been here before.

Just last year, a Tennessee man who was running for Congress made threats against The Muslims of America. He was prosecuted and is now serving time.

That's what they want to see happen in the Greece case.

The principal at Greece Odyssey says if it hadn't been for the students who stepped up with information when they sensed something was wrong, this whole situation could have ended much differently.

"The words that were said, the images that were shown to them, they knew it wasn't right. They knew it wasn't normal and it really didn't sit well with them. They were really disturbed by it and came forward right away," said Dr. Jeffrey Henley.

The students were in Henley's office within 15 minutes of their conversation with the suspect and security was called right away.

"We go through threat assessment training, all the principals do, and we're taught that no matter what the threat is, no matter what the statements are, you always follow the same process because 99 percent of the time, it's nothing but that one percent of the time, like this, we save lives," he adds.

Greece Police were called and through their investigation, they determined the 16-year-old was working with three other young men to plan the attack.

Investigators say the suspects had gathered 23 long guns and made three IEDs in preparation for the attack and had it not been for that conversation around the lunch table, police may never have known about the plan.

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